System and method for grouping products in a catalog

Claim 2

1 . A method of preparing a price quote for a product that is selected from among a plurality of products, comprising: determining whether said product is a member of a particular product collection, including evaluating a dynamic selection rule set associated with said particular product collection; and when said product is determined to be a member of said particular product collection, the method further comprising: identifying one or more price rules associated with said particular product collection; and applying said price rules to said product in order to determine said price quote for said product.

Claim 3

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said dynamic selection rule set is user determined at a time before a request to generate the price quote is received.

Claim 4

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said dynamic selection rule set is evaluated based on at least one condition, the at least one condition including a dynamic environmental condition selected from the group consisting of: a time of day said price quote is requested, a time of day said price quote is processed, a relative sales volume of said product relative to another product in said product collection, an absolute inventory level of said product, and an inventory level of said product relative to an inventory level of another product in said product collection.

Claim 5

4 . The method of claim 1 , said plurality of products comprising a plurality of groups that are arranged in a hierarchical manner into a product hierarchy, wherein a group below an immediately higher group in said product hierarchy inherits price rules of said immediately higher group, each group in said plurality of groups comprising a unique product category or a unique product collection, and each unique product category is a subset of said plurality of products and is determined by a respective predetermined selection rule set; and each said unique product collection is a subset of said plurality of products that is determined by a respective dynamic selection rule set.

Claim 6

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each price rule in said one or more price rules that is associated with said product collection includes a price rule type identifier and at least one rule expression.

Claim 7

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein said rule expression includes a component selected from the group consisting of a quantity of a product in said plurality of products, a payment term, and a customer class.

Claim 8

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said one or more price rules associated with said product collection are determined in accordance with a pricing scheme that is associated with said product collection.

Claim 9

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said product is a service.

Claim 10

9 . A computer program product for use in conjunction with a computer system, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium and a computer program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism comprising: a product collection evaluator that determines whether a product selected from among a plurality of products is a member of a product collection by a process that includes evaluating a dynamic selection rule set associated with the product collection; and a price quote generator for preparing a price quote for the product when the product is determined to be a member of said product collection, the price quote generator identifying one or more price rules associated with the product collection and the price quote generator further applying the price rules associated with the product collection to the product in order to determine a price quote for the product.

Claim 11

9 . A computer program product for use in conjunction with a computer system, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium and a computer program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism comprising: a product collection evaluator that determines whether a product selected from among a plurality of products is a member of a product collection by a process that includes evaluating a dynamic selection rule set associated with the product collection; and a price quote generator for preparing a price quote for the product when the product is determined to be a member of said product collection, the price quote generator identifying one or more price rules associated with the product collection and the price quote generator further applying the price rules associated with the product collection to the product in order to determine a price quote for the product.

Claim 12

10 . The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein the dynamic selection rule set is user determined at a time before a request to generate the price quote is made.

Claim 13

11 . The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein the product collection evaluator evaluates the dynamic selection rule set using at least one condition, the at least one condition including a dynamic environmental condition selected from the group consisting of: a time of day said price quote is requested, a time of day said price quote is processed, a relative sales volume of said product relative to another product in said product collection, an absolute inventory level of said product, and an inventory level of said product relative to an inventory level of another product in said product collection.

Claim 14

12 . The computer program product of claim 9 , further comprising a product hierarchy, said plurality of products comprising a plurality of groups that are arranged in a hierarchical manner into said product hierarchy, wherein a group below an immediately higher group in said product hierarchy inherits price rules of said immediately higher group, each group in said plurality of groups comprising a unique product category or a unique product collection, and each unique product category is a subset of said plurality of products and is determined by a respective predetermined dynamic selection rule set; and each said unique product collection is a subset of said plurality of products that is determined by a respective dynamic selection rule set.

Claim 15

13 . The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein each price rule of said one or more price rules that is associated with said product collection includes a price rule type identifier and at least one rule expression.

Claim 16

14 . The computer program product of claim 13 , wherein said rule expression includes a component selected from the group consisting of a quantity of a product in said plurality of products, a payment term, and a customer class.

Claim 17

15 . The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein said one or more price rules associated with said product collection are determined in accordance with a pricing scheme that is associated with said product collection.

Claim 18

16 . The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein said product is a service.

Claim 19

17 . A computer system for preparing a price quote for a product that is selected from among a plurality of products, the computer system comprising: a central processing unit; a memory, coupled to the central processing unit, the memory storing a representation of said plurality of products, the memory further storing a dynamic selection rule set that determines which of the products in said plurality of products are members of a product collection, the memory further storing a plurality of price rules as well as a plurality of modules, including a product collection evaluator module and a price quote generator module; the product collection evaluator module for determining whether said product is a member of said product collection, the product collection evaluator module comprising instructions for evaluating said dynamic selection rule set; and the price quote generator module for preparing said price quote for said product when the product is determined to be a member of said product collection, the price quote generator module comprising: instructions for identifying one or more price rules associated with said product collection from said plurality of price rules, and instructions for applying the price rules to the product in order to determine the price quote for the product.

Claim 20

17 . A computer system for preparing a price quote for a product that is selected from among a plurality of products, the computer system comprising: a central processing unit; a memory, coupled to the central processing unit, the memory storing a representation of said plurality of products, the memory further storing a dynamic selection rule set that determines which of the products in said plurality of products are members of a product collection, the memory further storing a plurality of price rules as well as a plurality of modules, including a product collection evaluator module and a price quote generator module; the product collection evaluator module for determining whether said product is a member of said product collection, the product collection evaluator module comprising instructions for evaluating said dynamic selection rule set; and the price quote generator module for preparing said price quote for said product when the product is determined to be a member of said product collection, the price quote generator module comprising: instructions for identifying one or more price rules associated with said product collection from said plurality of price rules, and instructions for applying the price rules to the product in order to determine the price quote for the product.

Claim 21

18 . The computer system of claim 17 , wherein the dynamic selection rule set is user determined at a time before a request to generate the price quote is made.

Claim 22

19 . The computer system of claim 17 , wherein said dynamic selection rule set includes a dynamic environmental condition that is selected from the group consisting of: a time of day said price quote is requested, a time of day said price quote is processed, a relative sales volume of said product relative to another product in said product collection, an absolute inventory level of said product, and an inventory level of said product relative to an inventory level of another product in said product collection; and said instructions for evaluating said dynamic selection rule set include instructions for evaluating said environmental condition.

Claim 23

20 . The computer system of claim 17 , wherein said representation of said plurality of products in said memory includes a product hierarchy, said plurality of products comprising a plurality of groups that are arranged in a hierarchical manner into said product hierarchy, wherein a group below an immediately higher group in said product hierarchy inherits price rules of said immediately higher group, each group in said plurality of groups comprising a unique product category or a unique product collection, and each unique product category is a subset of said plurality of products and is determined by a respective predetermined dynamic selection rule set; and each said unique product collection is a subset of said plurality of products that is determined by a respective dynamic selection rule set.

Claim 24

21 . The computer system of claim 17 , wherein each price rule of said one or more price rules that is associated with said product collection includes a price rule type identifier and at least one rule expression.

Claim 25

22 . The computer system of claim 21 , wherein said rule expression includes a component selected from the group consisting of a quantity of a product in said plurality of products, a payment term, and a customer class.

Claim 26

23 . The computer system of claim 17 , wherein said one or more price rules associated with said product collection are determined in accordance with a pricing scheme that is associated with said product collection.

Claim 27

24 . The computer system of claim 17 , wherein said product is a service.